The Sixty Second De-clutter

Its terrible isn't it, this de-cluttering thing?  I once had a book by Peter Menzel called 'Material World: A Global Family Portrait'.   It is a wonderful book, which does in photographs what thousands of words could not.  It is about the stuff that people in different parts of the world posess.  He got them to move all their stuff outside and he photographed it.  Simple.  The American familly's stuff went around two blocks.  And there was a family in (I think) Guatamala who had two cooking pots, two pairs of wellington boots and the clothes they stood up in.  That was it.  When the word 'de-clutter' comes into my mind, simultaneously so do the images of those two photographs. 

Why do we accumulate unnecessary stuff?  It gives us a (mainly false) sense of security maybe?  Insurance against the future?  Makes us feel accomplished and well off?  We all do it, and you can guarantee that the Guatamalan family would not be saying 'hey, we don't want any more stuff'  if they had the chance to get some... 

The sixty second de-clutter came from a blog called the Daily Om, which appeared in my Facebook feed.  Most of what it talks about is a bit airy fairy for me to be honest, but this was great.  It gets under all those barriers that prevent us from letting things go.  Just de-clutter or put things away for sixty seconds and you are done.  Even if you clear one tiny thing, such as a pen off your table and put it away. 

I really like adding the idea of simply putting things away to the concept of de-cluttering.  So many of us struggle with that.  If we are overwhelmed with stuff, it is easy to start thinking it will be easier to find things if they are left out and anyway, the cupboards and drawers are full of who-knows-what. 

I found I was accomplishing a staggering amount in sixty seconds and enjoying it immensely.   Do as many sixty second slots as you feel like.   I go into my office to start work and do sixty seconds before getting down to business.  Then later on, make a cup of tea and do another sixty seconds.  It is easy to think what to do and resistance disappears. 

A lot of the post-Christmas has been paperwork, which can really accumulate due to having a business.  For me, it is not a solution to keep everything in the computer, although we definitely have less paper than in the past.  People who try to keep everything paperless often can't find things and get in a terrible muddle when their battery goes flat or they are in a meeting.  And you need a good computer filing system and to clear out the computer files just like you do the paper ones. 

The sixty second de-clutter has led to other things, such as painting the spare bedroom and selling books that I no longer needed on Amazon. The goal is to sell enough surplus stuff to pay for a forthcoming yoga course.
More about clutter soon.

Shopping in your own cupboards/closets

Many of us in more affluent countries speak of de-cluttering and having too much stuff. The trick of course is to not buy it in the first place and put the money in a savings account instead.

That is how you build up an emergency fund (3-12 months living expenses) then have a fund for luxuries and extras and finally a 'retire early' fund.

We have decided to trim our spending again. It crept up when we had a larger income, as it does. That is the main reason it is how much you spend/don't spend that will get you ahead of the game, not how much you earn. Once you earn £15,000 per person that is. Below that more income does tend to make a difference.

I decided that I would rather do something I loved and earn less.  So now I teach spinning and weaving and write books.  I have let go of my other income stream.

I looked at a recent book written by someone who spent on nothing but essentials for a year. She still paid her basic essentials which came to £1800.00 a month. That is more than we live on anyway - and I suspect more than a lot of you do too.

So I have been shopping in the cupboards.  In other words, when I think I need to buy something I consider what we have that might do.

Our duvet was too small.  I was going to buy another but remembered there was an old smaller one insulating the hot water tank. So I cut a strip off and sewed it to ours.

I needed a watch but then hubby remembered he had an old one and now it is mine.

I have been using up food that has been in the cupboard for a while. The dried fava bean soup is utterly delicious and i am going to make hummus from them too.

I had been buying frozen berries to put on porridge.  The home grown ones ran out months ago. Then I remembered all that rhubarb in the freezer and am eating that instead.

We will have different snacks instead of crisps etc.  Rhubarb and custard. Fried potatoes or home made oven chips.  Crackers and cheese.  Soup. All far more nutritious of course...

 The goal is to spend no more than £10 a week on groceries.  We can feed ourselves very well on very little money and have lots in the cupboards.   Below is the fava bean soup.